the blog for single, over-40 women

Dead Car Batteries and Feeling Alone

by Tammie Fickas on September 16, 2014

Last week I drove to work in that morning light that is just about full light, but not quite all the way there. It felt dark so I turned on my car lights. Problem is sometimes my lights will ding if I leave them on when I get out of the car. Other times they do not.

When I left work, I was running to get to church on time for a meeting. I pushed the magic button on my key fob and absolutely nothing happened. So I did what any reasonable person would do, I pushed that stupid button harder. Again, nothing happened.

Then I glanced down into my car and saw the light switch showing on and I knew. That battery was dead as could be. But, ever the optimist, I got in the car, put the key in the ignition, and turned. And nothing happened.

Can I tell you that very few things get me worse than car problems? Yep, car issues can reduce me to a blubbery mass of independent woman quicker than you can call triple A.

See, I’m pretty independent. I even have jumper cables in my car, so a dead battery should be no big deal. But last week it was and, honestly, the help of a friend got me through it. When we couldn’t get the hood of her car open, she went looking for additional assistance. Thankfully, we were able to solve the problem pretty quickly and I made it to church only a few minutes late.

But this incident reminded me that I’m alone. It’s times like this that I often feel forsaken. These are the moments when I have to remind myself that being single is not a punishment or curse. It is the path God has put me on for this season and, despite what I feel, I am never truly alone.

Image courtesy of Stoonn/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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One response to “Dead Car Batteries and Feeling Alone”

Gosh I know what you mean! I think we all have our version of “car problems”–that problem that inspires panic, that problem we feel like we just can’t handle alone, and yet, we have to. All I can say is–celebrate what you can celebrate in that situation. I imagine the feeling of stress caused by the car trouble seems a lot bigger than the feeling of victory that the problem got resolved. But I know for myself, every time I get to the other side of one of those stressful situations, the next one is usually a little less stressful. It’s worth celebrating when we are able to take care of ourselves, even if it isn’t always pleasant to do so.